Bottle carrier



Sept. 12, 1950 F. A. WYATT BOTTLE CARRIER Filed Dec. 17, 1948 Patented Sept. 12, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v I r 2,522,080

BOTTLE CARRIER, Frank A. Wyatt, Indiana, Pa. 7 Application December 17, 1948, Serial No. 55.875

This invention relates to devices for carrying bottles and has for its object the provision of a collapsible carrier which will firmly hold annihber of bottles in such a manner as to protect the trade mark or advertising on the surfaces thereof from impairment or obliteration.

Another object of my present invention is to provide a light weight and compact bottle carrier the lateral compartments of which may be individually collapsed toward the center when emptied in order to afford greater carrying convenience and to require less storage space on a delivery truck, in the retail store and in the home.

Still another advantage or my carrier is the presence of a carrying handle which may be turned to a position within its upper margin allowing another carrier to be placed thereon to facilitate storage and shipping of the carriers in either a loaded or collapsed condition.

Still other objects and advantages will be' come apparent from the following description of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which: v

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bottle car- I rier embodying my invention shown completely collapsed.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the carrier fully opened to receive a maximumnumber of bottles.

Figure 3 is a. sectional view taken on line 35-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectionalview taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5+5 of Fig. 2.

similar reference characters in the'se'veral figures represent similar parts.

' One of the rimaryoimculties confronted in thebottle and also the marl-mg oi the surface:- ofthe glass itself where one bottle is allowed 'to' rub against another. This descriptive material, which customarily consists of letterin or trademarks raised on the surface of the bottle or merely painted thereon. is seriousl abraded by constant contact of each bottle with the sides of the carrier or crate or with other bottles therein. Since certain industries, such as those" manufacturing and selling soft drinks 'and'the like, have found it most economical tdreuse bottles as many times as'they can be IECIaiined 6 Claims; 01. 224-48) it will be readily understood that a portion of the effectiveness of this economic endeavor is defeated by the necessity of discarding or reprocessing bottles upon which the descriptive material has been damaged. Obviously, to present a product to the consuming public in bottles which are chipped or otherwise unsightly detracts from its saleability since the purchaser instinctively shuns an object with an unpleasant or ill-kept appearance. 1

With the above in mind, I have devised the bottle carrier shown in Figs. 1 and 2 which will hold bottles firmly for protecting the raised lettering or trade-marl; and which is constructed in such a manner as to facilitate storage and shipping.

The foundation of my bottle carrier, as seen in Fig. 2, consists of a pair of vertical support members Iii-40 These members have attached thereto left and right hand lateral carrying com partments H 41 each comprising a side panel [2 and a bottom panel R3. The ends of each bottom panel 83 are formed with flanges l4 yer-Q tically projecting at right angles to the surface of the panel. The inner ends of these flanges are pivotally connected respectively'to the ver-' tical supports iii-40 (Figs. 2 and 5) by means of small bolts or rivets 16 which pass through.

alined apertures located at the inner end of; the flange and the lower corner of the vertical support member.

The outer end of each flange 4 projectsv be-I yond the edge of the bottom panel and has pivot ally connected thereto the projecting extremity I! of a flange l8 formedat each endofthe side panel l2. A similar rivet I9 is preferred for this.

connection.

The upper end of each flange i8 is respectively joined to its proximate vertical support Ill-All Aswill be seen in Fig. '2, the vertical su port members lll lli are reinforced by the narrow projections 24 which are bent inwardly to .lie

against the inner face of the members and each I member is further provided at the upper portion thereof with a pair of longitudinal slots 25 and 25 These slots are parallel and are each of a width slightly greater than the diameter of the 1 connecting bolts 22 to permit vertical sliding of the latter whenthe carrier is collapsed or opened, as the case maybe.

The upper edge of each side panel I2 is formed with a bottle holding flange 26 bent inwardly from the plane of the side panel at an inclination of about 45 therefrom. The length of flange Z5 is of necessity less than the distance between the vertical support members lll-lll to permit the flange to pass between these members when the carrier is collapsed as shown in Fig. 1. Successive arcuate recessions 2'! for laterally supporting bottles are formed in the free edge otflange 26 and are spaced by lobes 28 which are accordingly designed with a sufficient thickness to prevent contact between the cylindrical surfaces of adjacent I A pair of terminal lobes bottles in the carrier. define the ends of the series of arcuate reces sions and prevent contact between the surface "of the end bottles and the adjacent elements forming the ends of the bottle carrier.

Cooperating with the flange recessions 21, to

firmly hold the bottlesin their segregated relationship is a series of similar arcuate recessions 30 formed in each of the oppositely disposed wings 3| of a central retainer 32. As seen in Fig. 4 the retainer comprises a longitudinal rod 33 journaled at either end within apertures located on the center line of vertical support members Ill-40 The ends of the rods are enlarged to provide retaining heads 34. The retainer 32 compressing a thin strip of metal has its central portion bent around rod 33 to substantially envelope the same, as shown at 35 in Fig. 4 and laterally projecting therefrom are its edges which form the bottle supporting wings 3| previously mentioned.

As will be seen in Fig. 2 the arcuate recessions 21 and 30 in each lateral compartment of my bottle carrier are alined in pairs to firmly hold the bottles in place with a minimum of contact between the carrier and each bottle. Furthermore the arcuate line of contact as shown in the drawings will normally lie above the area of any descriptive material carried by the bottle. I prefer to round the lobes separating each arcuate recess to prevent the presence of unnecessary pointed projections which might injure the hands or clothing of a user.

Since conservation of shipping and storage space is an important factor in the industry, I have provided a carrying handle which may be rotated to the inoperative position shown in Fig. 1 and thereby permit either loaded or collapsed carriers to be stacked on top of each other.v The handle 38 is rigidly secured to a longitudinal carrying rod 3'! by means of a pair of screws 38. The screws pass through the flanges 39 at the ends of the handle and are received in alined threaded holes in the rod. In order to make the carrying assembly rotatable about the axis of the rod 31, I provide each end of the rod with a shallow axial bore threaded to receive a screw 40 which passes through an aperture 4| at the upper end of the vertical su porting members.

The unique association of the pivoted elements embodied in my present invention adds to the effectiveness of the carrier-in that when it does not contain bottles the connecting bars may be caused to slide upwardly in their respective guide slots -25=- allowing each lateral compartment l l l| to be inwardlycollapsedto a position shown in Fig. 1. The compact package thus formed is of a thickness approximately-equal to the vertical supporting members l0i 0 since each side panel [2 is swung upwardly and -in-- wardly permitting the bottom panels l3 to pivot on the rivets Hi to a vertical position as shown,

To further compact the collapsed assembly, the handle and rod 31 may then be rotated until the handle extends downwardly and will thus rest entirely within the outline of the package.

It will be seen from Fig. 2 that should the number of bottles contained by the carrier illustrated be less than four the empty compartment can be individually collapsed to provide a more easily carried article or to occupy a minimum of space in -a kitchen or pantry; g if It will of course be understood that the size of the various elements of the carrier will be dependent upon the size of the bottles with which the carrier is to be used. Furthermore, while I have shown a carrier with a capacity of siX bottles, the compartments may be made to accommodate any desirednumber of bottles by increasing the number of arcuate recessions accordingly.

While a preferred form of the invention has been shown and described, variation in details of form may be made'without departure from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a bottle carrier, the combination of vertical end members each having parallel guide slots formed therein, lateral compartments pivotally connected to said end members and having hinged side and bottom panels thereon, slidable bars connecting said side panels to said slotted end members, an inclined flange at the upperend of each of said side panels having successive arcuate recessions spaced in the edge thereof, a longitudinal rod journally supported by said end members, a retaining member enveloping said rod and having lateral wings thereon, said wings being formed with successive arcuate re-' cessions alined with said flange recession for holding bottles.

2. In combination with a bottle carrier having vertical end members and individually collapsible lateral compartments comprising side and bottom panel sections, an inclined flange at the upper end of each of said side panels having successive arcuate recessions spaced in the edge thereof, a longitudinal rod journally'supported by said endmembers, a retaining member enveloping said:

rod and having lateral wings thereon, said wings being formed with successive arcuate recessions flange recession for holding alined with said bottles.

3. A collapsible bottle carrier comprising nar-' row vertical end members having parallel slots in the upper portion thereof, lateral bottom sec-' tions pivotally connected to the lower ends of said vertical members, side panels hinged to the outer extremities of said sections, connecting bars each having one, end pivotally secured to an upper corner of a side panel and the other end to a vertical end member through one of said slots, a longitudinal rod rotatably supported bythe upper ends of said vertical members having a carrying handle secured thereto, a central retaining member between the end members, said- 1 retaining member and side panels containing alined arcuate recessions for holding bottles.

4. In a bottle carrier, the combination of vertical end members each having parallel guideslots formed therein, lateral compartments pivplane of said end members, a carrying handle rotatably supported by the upper ends of the end members, a central retaining member connecting said end members and means associated with said compartments and retaining member cooperating to hold the cylindrical surface of individual bottles from contact with other bottles and with elements of the carrier.

5. In a bottle carrier, the combination of vertical end members each having parallel guide slots formed therein, lateral compartments pivotally connected to said end members and having hinged side and bottom panels thereon, slidable bars connecting said side panels to said slotted end members, the side and bottom panels of each compartment being pivotally connected whereby the compartments may be collapsed into the plane of said end members, an inclined flange at the upper end of each of said side panels having succesive arcuate recessions spaced in the edge thereof, a longitudinal rod journally supported by said end members, a retaining member enveloping said rod and having lateral wings thereon, said wings being formed with successive arcuate recessions alined with said flange recession for holding bottles.

6. A collapsible bottle carrier comprising narrow vertical end members having parallel slots in the upper portion thereof, lateral bottom sections pivotally connected to the lower ends of said vertical members, side panels hinged to the outer extremities of said sections, connecting bars each having one end pivotally secured to an upper corner of a side panel and the other end to a, vertical end member through one of said slots, the side and bottom panels of each compartment being pivotally connected whereby the compartments may be collapsed into the plane of said end members, a longitudinal rod rotatably supported by the upper ends of said vertical members having a carrying handle secured thereto, a central retaining member between the end members, said retaining member and side panels containing alined arcuate recessions for holding bottles.

FRANK A. WYATT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Z. Tumber Name Date 767,884 Harris et a1 Au 16, 1904 1,098,797 Hehr June 2, 1914 2,425,135 Suiter Aug. 5, 1947 2,432,351 Strobl Dec. 9, 1947 

